CONTRA & SQUARE DANCE WITH BOB DALSEMER & DANCE MUSICIAN'S WEEK INSTRUCTORS

Bob Dalsemer has taught and called traditional contras and squares throughout the country for nearly 40 years. For the past decade he has been principal instructor at the annual Mountain Folk Festival in Berea, KY and is the former Music & Dance Coordinator for the John C. Campbell Folk School. Sue Songer was first hooked on contra dance music as a dancer in the mid 1980s. Since the early 1990s, she has played piano and fiddle in a number of contra and English bands at dances in her local area, as well as weekend and weeklong dance and music camps. Betsy Branch is a contra and English country dance fiddler from Portland, Oregon. She teaches fiddle privately out of her home and is associate music director for the Portland Revels® theater company, where she arranges music for chorus and instruments. Her fiddling can be heard on a number of recordings - most recently "Midnight in Montague," a collection of fiddle duets with David Kaynor. Peter plays guitar, banjo, and mandolin with the innovative Gaslight Tinkers in western Massachusetts and with the Beverwyck String Band around Albany, New York. He also performs extensively as a folk singer-songwriter and has shared the stage with such performers as Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul, and Mary), Judy Collins, and Pete Seeger. He also recorded mandolin on Seeger's Grammy award-winning CD, "Tomorrow's Children." Beginners, singles and couples welcome. Beginners should come promptly at 8 pm, since we start with easier dances and more teaching.